Indoor game



W. A. GRAU .ET AL INDOOR GAME Filed 00%.. 25. 1922 Patented lWay 13, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT om n) WILLIAM A. GIQAU AND MERLE G. MILLER, OF CHICAGO,

mnooa Gem Application fi led October 25, 1922. Serial 110. 596,717;

and its object is to provide simple meansv whereby a game patterned after golf may be played upon a table and furnish much' pleasure and amusement to the players.

Our invention contemplates the provision of a board having a miniature golf course laid' out thereon, and a movable stand adapted to be moved from place to place and having a miniature golf club flexibly supported thereonso that it can be swung by pressure of the finger to tension a spring and then released to permit the spring to swing the club freely against a ball to drive the ball over the course on the board. After each stroke the stand is moved to position the head of. the club for the next stroke and rovision is made for changing the clubs as .01 esired. I

In the accompanying drawings we have illustrated a selected embodiment of'the invention and referring thereto Fig. 1 isa and club;

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view; Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; v 1 I Fig. 4 is an elevation showing the normal position of the club in full lines and the elevated position of the club in broken lines;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a board having a miniature golf club thereon. Fig. 6 is a detail view of a modification.

Referring to the drawings, the stand comprises a base 6 and a standard 7 rigidly mounted on the base and having its upper part bent at a right angle to form a sup porting arm 8. A sleeve 9 is mounted on the arm 8 and a sleeve 10 is riveted, soldered or otherwise rigidly mounted on one side of the sleeve 9 and transversely thereof so that the two sleeves are located substantially at right angles to each other. The staff 110i the golf club is held in proper position in the sleeve 10 by the spring tongue 12 on the sleeve which engages theffiat face-13 on the staid. A coil spring 14 on the arm 8 has one I understood. .a border rail 18 and it has a surface coating putting greens. Thedrawings illustrate a perspective view of thestand end 15 madetfa st to the standard 7 and its other end 16 is secured to the sleeve 10.

The board 17 is shown made in one piece but it may be made in two or more pieces suitably hinged together for convenience in storing and transporting as will be readil This board is surrounded wit ofsand to resemble. a, natural earth surface. The sand may be applied in any suitable way and sand paper may be used by stretching it upon and securing it to the board. The course is laid out in. any suitable arrangement of tees, fairways, bunkers, traps, hazards and 7' nine hole course with-the numbers on the putting greens 19 to indicatethe general lay out. These putting greens maybe conveniently made by pasting a sheet of felt of a desired size and shape upon the board and we havefound felt such as is used upon billiard and other game tables admirably suit.-

ved for the purpose. The bunkers 20 may be I made with molders clay, pa r pulp or other such materials and suita ly ailixed to the board. We do not limit ourselves to any particular arrangement of the olf course because it can obviouslybe ma e'to correspond withlocal courses or according to some original plan the bunkers, traps and hazards may be difierently arranged and increased or decreased as it maybe desired to make thecourse more diflicult or easy.

In practicin our invention'the ball. will be located on t e first tee, the stand will'be positioned adjacent the ball so that. the head 11 of the club is in the proper position behind the ball 21. Then the player.

presses upon the handleiend of the see,

swinging the club onthe arm as a fulcrum as to a position substantially as shown in the broken lines in Fig. 4, and during the movement of the sleeves in swinging the club I to this broken line position the coil spring is tensioned so that when the .finger is released fromthe stafi the clubis swung out to cause its head'tostrikethe-ball for a drive or ,aLn approach or a. PM; or for any other strokecommon to the golf game. The construction is suchthat a'setof clubs may be provided and theycan be readily changed as required for different strokes; or a single club with a um' versal head may be used which ,will answerv the pa "of afiording pleasure and amusement. The base of no i the standard may be made heavy and substantial enough to hold the club steady while it is being swung but we prefer to make it of suflicient breadth as shown to permit as desired; Of course the pleasure of the game is enhanced by the skill developed in the force applied to the club in striking the ball on a miniature course. 9

' We are aware that the layout of the golf course may be changed in many ways and that the construction of the stand and its parts may be altered as required associated to suit varlous conditions, without departing from the invention andwe reserve the right to make all such changes as fairly fall within the scope of the following claims. For example, we have shown a slightly .modified construction in .Fig. 6 wherein the arm 21 is bored to receive the shank 22 of the head 23 in which the staff 24 of the club is held. The shank has its end 25 riveted or otherwise provided with means, to prevent its disengagement from the arm. A spring 26 is secured at one end to the arm 21 and at its other end to the head 23 and, like 1 the spring 14, is adapted to be tensioned when the club is swung to the broken line position of Fig. 4 and to swing the club downward to strike the ball, as hereinbefore described.

We claim:

1. The combination'of a base, a standard on the base, a substantially horizontal arm on the standard, a horizontal sleeve on the arm, a vertical sleeve on the horizontal sleeve, a miniature golf club detachably engaged with the vertical sleeve and a spring attached at one end to the standard and hav-' ing its other end engaged with the golf club and adapted to be tensioned when the club is swung to substantially horizontal position to cause the club to swing and strike a ball positioned adjacent the base.

2. The combination'of a base, a standard on the base, an arm on the standard, an open ended sleeve su ported to swing on the arm at right angles t lereto, a miniature golf club extending through said sleeve and removable and adjustable endwvise therethrough, a spring tongue on the sleeve engaging the club to hold it in place in the sleeve, and means for swinging the club from a substantially horizontal position to strike a ball positioned acent the base.

WILLIAM A. GRAU. MERLE G. MILLER. 

